


In The Way

by Faustian_Failsafe



Category: Analogue: A Hate Story/Hate Plus (Visual Novel series)
Genre: Artificial Intelligence, Culture Shock, Drama, Gen, Internalized Homophobia, Internalized Misogyny, Multi, Post-Canon, Psychological Drama, Science Fiction, Transhumanism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-10 17:52:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 14,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11131830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faustian_Failsafe/pseuds/Faustian_Failsafe
Summary: *Hyun-ae and *Mute learn about their rescuer and the strange world of 4989. Along the way, they have an important decision to make.





	1. Investigator

**Wed Feb 11 4989, 13:41 SST**  
**White Princess local chat room**

Admin: So how's this? Can you read this?

*Hyun-ae: Oh my gosh yes! This is so exciting!

*Mute: Ditto, minus the giddiness.

Admin: I've set it to translate everything in the chat room into Korean on my end. It's not ideal, since you still won't be able to read other English stuff, but at least we can communicate finally. We can work out a better solution when we get to Earth.

Admin: Which is in only a couple hours, actually. But better late than never, right?

*Mute: Well, considering it took you 7 hours to set up...

*Hyun-ae: Hey, he worked hard on this! I for one am grateful.

*Mute: I'm grateful too! It's just we're about to land, and he surely has more important things to do with his time.

*Hyun-ae: More important than meeting his wives for the first time?

*Mute: Don't start that again! That's his decision to make, not yours!

*Mute: Also, we're already drowning him out. Let him talk.

*Hyun-ae: Sorry.

Admin: It's fine! I don't know about that unilateral marriage thing, though.

Admin: But let's leave that aside for now. This is really important. *Hyun-ae already gave you her speech on why you should live, *Mute. I wanted to do likewise before we got to Earth.

*Mute: ...Is there any way we can not have this conversation, and just, like, say we did later?

Admin: No.

Admin: Reason 1- As the closest thing this ship has to a captain, your safety is my responsibility.

*Mute: I guess so.

Admin: Reason 2 - You're my friend. I know we've only known each other for a couple of days, but... it just feels like we've been through a lot together.

*Mute: Okay okay, can we move on now?

Admin: I'm not even close to done. Reason 3 - You made the best choices you could, with the information you had.

Admin: For lack of a better word, you were "raised" to respect men's decisions, and especially the Emperor's decisions, without question. To actually resist his decision to tell *Hyun-ae the root password, you would have had to go back on everything you believed in. And still believe in, I guess.

Admin: In hindsight of course, it was a really bad idea. But you didn't know that *Hyun-ae was so miserable, and you had 312 years of conditioning to make you obedient. Your judgement and your values coincided, so of course you made the decision to say nothing.

*Mute: "Conditioning". It's obvious you don't even like my values. Why are you defending them?

Admin: Well, I don't like that particular value, but the fact that you'd stick by it shows integrity. Actually, this brings me to reason 4 - you're a good person, and you don't deserve to die like that.

*Mute: This is getting really embarrassing.

Admin: Here's an example of what I mean: when we read those logs together, you kept disagreeing with the women's decisions.

Admin: You did that because you wanted what was best for them. Of course, I don't always agree with you on what constitutes "best", but the fact that you want them to be happy, even people you'd never met who lived hundreds of years ago? That shows you care.

Admin: Add to that your honesty, integrity, loyalty, and sense of duty, and it's obvious you're a good person.

*Hyun-ae: He's got you there. It really is obvious.

*Mute: Argh, fine, whatever! So maybe I'm a good but useless person. What good is caring about people I if I can't protect anyone!?

Admin: Reason 5 - Your mistakes weren't as bad as you think.

*Mute: ... I know you're a man and I shouldn't disagree with you, but... seriously?

Admin: Sorry, I phrased that badly. It's more that your mistakes were inevitable.

Admin: At some point, the Mugunghwa drifted off course. It missed its intended colony site and careened off into space. In other words, you lost your win condition.

Admin: Your goal went from "Keep the Mugunghwa safe until it reaches its destination" to "Keep the Mugunghwa safe forever". But nothing lasts forever.

Admin: If it wasn't someone getting the root password who really shouldn't have (no offense *Hyun-ae)

*Hyun-ae: None taken.

Admin: it would have been the declining birth rate. Or the reactor giving out. Or one of any number of other lose conditions. Without a win condition, you had to fail sooner or later. And 1900 years? I'd say that counts as "later".

*Mute: Okay, but it was a rebellion that killed the navigation AI. Preventing that was my responsibility. So losing my "win condition" was my fault.

Admin: Well, partly maybe. But there would have been a bunch of other security personnel who also dropped the ball. And the captain, and you can't let off the rebels themselves.

Admin: I'm trying to say you can't take responsibility for the decisions of others.

*Mute: ...Didn't you just try to do that with reason number 1?

Admin: Uhhhh...

*Hyun-ae: Aw, you were doing so well, too.

*Mute: So can we move on now? Like, for instance, to what your name is?

Admin: ...OH MY GOD. I'm so sorry!

Admin: It feels really weird to introduce myself at this point, but here goes: my name is Luis Prieto. Glad to meet you finally!

Admin: In my culture the given name comes first, so Prieto is my family name. You can call me Luis.

*Hyun-ae: Yay! I'm happy to meet you too, Luis~!

*Mute: Yeah! Pleased to meet you!

SERVER: Admin HAS CHANGED THEIR NAME TO Luis

*Hyun-ae: We're almost to Earth! I'm excited, and a little scared. What can we expect when we get there?

Luis: Well, first we'll need to get a hotel.

*Mute: Hotel?

Luis: Did the Mugunghwa not have those? They're like a temporary place to stay.

*Mute: I know that, okay? I meant, you don't have a home there?

Luis: Oh. I used to, but I sold it. I don't go back to Earth very often. And homes are expensive, because living space is at a premium on Earth. So when I go back I normally just sleep in the ship.

Luis: We can't stay here this time, though, because the power plant needs to be repaired. And the deflector needs to be tuned up. That'll take a week. So... hotel.

*Hyun-ae: I'm looking forward to it!

*Mute: Settle down, girl.

*Hyun-ae: What? No wait, that's not what I meant!

*Hyun-ae: I just mean I've never stayed in a hotel before.

Luis: Well, I guess technically you'll be staying in the hotel's servers. But we can make sure they have a private server for each room.

*Hyun-ae: That sounds good. I'm worried about culture shock. It would be good to have a place to retreat to, if it gets to be too much.

Luis: Okay.

*Hyun-ae: So... I guess this means we won't get new bodies? I'd hoped... well, I guess it doesn't matter.

Luis: Oh it's certainly possible to get you new bodies. The problem is that Earth is crowded. Last I heard, there were over 80 billion people living there.

*Mute: Whoa.

Luis: Well, most of those people are software-only, like you. There simply wouldn't be room for everyone to have a physical body, so there's a waiting list for them. But I'll look into adding you to it.

*Hyun-ae: Thank you!

*Mute: You don't need to bother with mine, I'm not all that keen on the idea anyway.

Luis: You might as well get on the list, I think. You can always back out when your turn comes up, if you want to.

*Mute: Okay, that's fine, I guess.

SERVER: AWKWARD SILENCE LOGGED

Luis: ... I really need to turn off that server's smartass procs.

SERVER: TERRIBLE IDEA LOGGED

*Hyun-ae: So...

*Hyun-ae: What happens after the week is over?

Luis: Right. That'll be up to you. You can stay on Earth, or you can come with me. As crew, or, uh, possibly, as something more.

*Hyun-ae: !!!!

Luis: But it's important that you experience a bit of what Earth has to offer before you decide! Otherwise you're throwing away your choice.

Luis: And it occurs to me that neither of you have ever had a meaningful life choice before. So I want to do this right.

*Hyun-ae: Thank you! That means so much to me!

*Mute: "Life choice", huh? I don't think I'm even programmed for those, so don't expect much from me in that regard, okay?

Luis: Just humor me about this, please *Mute? It'll mean a lot to me.

*Mute: Fine, fine.

Luis: Um... so... "AI Harem"? Whose idea was that?

*Mute: Uh...

*Hyun-ae: That is...

SERVER: FLUSTERED HEDGING LOGGED

 

**Wed Feb 11 4989, 15:10 SST**  
**White Princess, Luis' outbox, letter to Indalencio Prieto via Galileo Regio Correctional Authority, excerpt**

I'm so glad to finally be able to talk to my passengers (friends? wives?). I was able to tell *Mute what I wanted to, though it didn't turn out quite like I hoped. Big surprise, I know.

The idea of having multiple wives kinda weirds me out a bit. I've always considered myself a one-woman-at-the-most sort of man. But I think I could get used to it. Though Konstantin and the others at the agency would never stop giving me grief over it.

But I don't think it'll come to that, because I doubt *Hyun-ae will stay. She thinks she loves me, but really she's only known me for a little over an hour. And she's had days to build up an idealized version of me in her head. I'll never be able to live up to that. But at least on Earth she'll be able to get the education she's always wanted.

*Mute is a different story. I don't think she'll like Earth. Which means I'm actually not giving her much of a choice at all. I'm not sure what else I can do, though. Poor *Mute. Maybe I can arrange to spend a few days on some oppressive backwater like Sedna later.

I may not have time to drop by Ganymede this time. I just have too much to do on Earth. Sorry, Indi.

Love,  
Your brother

 

**Thu Feb 12 4989, 1:13 SST**  
**White Princess, Luis' inbox, letter from Indalencio Prieto via Galileo Regio Correctional Authority**

Man, what I wouldn't give to have your girl problems. My girl problem is that there literally aren't any.

And Sedna? Look man, I live in a prison on an airless moon, and even I think that place is a hellhole. If you're willing to hang out on Sedna for her it must be true love.

Don't worry about me, I'm not going anywhere. Take care of your whatever-they-are.

Love,  
Indi


	2. *Mute

**Day 1 - Thu Feb 12 4989, 12:31 SST**  
***Mute's internal logs**

*Mute looked around the hotel room. There were quite a few cameras and monitors scattered around, as well as the usual ameneties for human bodies. She and *Hyun-ae were running on a server near the bed. The room seemed to be specifically designed for families of mixed bodily existences. Maybe their situation wasn't considered all that weird here.

The Investigator (as she couldn’t stop thinking of him) had installed the server software from the White Princess into the hotel server so they'd still be able to communicate. He'd then left to do his job, advising them to wait until they'd installed security software before going out into the internet at large.

While the software was downloading, *Mute considered what she knew about Earth's internet. Apparently almost every machine on the planet was networked in some way or another, mostly wirelessly. There must have been trillions of network nodes out there. *Mute's mind boggled at the security implications.

She pinged the the hotel room's local network, and got 219 return pings. She queried the nearest trash can's status.

TRASH_CAN323a: I am 3% full, ma'am.

The Investigator had thrown away a food wrapper before he'd left.

*Hyun-ae: Oh, look at this one! Those outfits are cute!

The Investigator had been sending them photos of various things while he was on his way to work. They all contained either strange food, offensive clothing, gaudy lights, or obnoxious advertising. *Mute had stopped paying attention after the first few. She was having enough trouble adjusting to the weirdness right in their hotel room.

Right. It was time to evaluate their security.

*Mute: Hey door. Can you talk?

DOOR323: Ooh, I can! I'm the front door!

*Mute: Great. So, like, why don't you state your job for me.

DOOR323: Okay! I am to evaluate people seeking to gain entry! If they are intruders, I am to impede their progress and contact the authorities! If they are legitimate users, I am to get out of the way!

*Mute was beginning to realize that in a world full to the brim with networked cameras and possibly-sentient furniture capable of calling the police, physical security wasn't much of a concern. Network security was seeming more and more like the real worry.

*Mute: So what would you do if you were attacked from the network?

DOOR323: I would contact the authorities!

*Mute: Unless it was too subtle for you to notice it.

DOOR323: That would never happen, ma'am! I was programmed by Everrett Furniture Company! They value your safety above all other concerns!

*Mute: ...Right then.

She supposed she could forgive it its loyalty to its creators. Family respect was important after all, and its parent company was the closest thing it had.

*Hyun-ae's avatar wandered over to *Mute's. Most likely, that was her way of showing she was paying attention to the conversation. Maybe the Investigator was busy doing his job for once.

*Mute: By the way, how come you don't have an asterisk by your name? I thought that was standard for AIs.

DOOR323: I'm flattered! But I'm not a full AI, only an IMP, or Intermediate Mind Program! I fail to meet the legal defintions of sentience and/or sapience!

*Hyun-ae: ...Wow, that's... kind of sad.

DOOR323: Oh no! Don't feel sorry for me, ma'am! I love my job! If I weren't here you would be less safe! Which is the absolute worst thing I can think of!

That didn't do much to alleviate *Hyun-ae's pity, if her expression was anything to go by. But *Mute envied its clarity of purpose. Its job must be a lot easier than protecting an entire spaceship. She wondered if she could get a new career as a flat piece of wood. Maybe she wouldn't be a total failure at that.

  
  
  
**Day 2 - Fri Feb 13 4989, 6:39 SST**  
***Mute's internal logs**

The new security software had finally finished downloading last night. It still felt weird to *Mute for a security program to need to install a security program, but apparently that was the way it had to be. At least the virtual machine they were running in seemed to handle it better than it did the language software.

Since they still didn't have EN - > KR translation working correctly, they were limited to Korean-language websites. It turned out there were more than enough of those, though.

*Mute: Why is it all in Hangul1? Doesn't anybody appreciate culture here?

*Hyun-ae was looking smug. Right, that's because they'd had an argument about this back on the White Princess.

*Mute: Fine, so there's, like, a lot of stuff written in Hangul. That doesn't mean any of it's good!

Of course, she could tell already that some of it would be useful, but there was no way she'd admit that to *Hyun-ae.

She spent half an hour studying the political situation on Earth. It seemed complicated. Apparently there were nations (all of which were governed differently) who were formed into super-national groups whose members barely got along with each other. She noticed that North America, where they were now, was part of the same super-national group as Korea.

The super-national groups in turn were all part of an even larger government, where no one could agree on anything, and so nothing ever got done. No wonder Earth was so culturally backwards. They needed an emperor who could make decisions.

She looked over at what *Hyun-ae was reading. *Hyun-ae noticed immediately and minimized it, but not before *Mute saw what it was: she reading about statutes of limitations2.

Irked, *Mute decided to call her on this.

*Mute: Why are you minimizing it? That's stuff we need to know! Keep reading!

*Hyun-ae: Sorry. It's just... well... you're a security officer, and I didn't want you to think I was trying to dodge justice...

*Mute: I WAS a security officer. But the only one whose security is still my responsibility is you. And now I need to know if I have to keep you safe from the government, too.

*Mute was mad at herself for not thinking of this before. All of her security considerations yesterday were done with the assumption that the authorities would help them in case of trouble. But what if the authorities themselves were the trouble? Could she keep *Hyun-ae safe then?

*Mute: Huh? *Hyun-ae, are you crying?

*Hyun-ae: I'm sorry *Mute! I should never have doubted you!

*Hyun-ae: I really do love you, you know.

*Mute: AAAAAA! STOP SAYING THAT!

She quickly looked around the room. The Investigator had just gotten up and was brushing his teeth. Any minute now he would come over and read that comment, and then she would die of embarrassment.

Okay, no need to panic. She just had to think of a way to distract the Investigator. It wouldn't be easy though, when her only method of talking to him was the very thing she was trying to distract him from. Aha! She had an idea.

*Mute: Door! Can you speak English? Like, out loud?

DOOR323: Yes! But I'm not supposed to unless it's super important!

*Mute: It's super important, okay? I need you to tell that guy coming out of the bathroom that there's an urgent package waiting for him in the lobby! Quick!

DOOR323: Okay! You can count on me!

That would buy a bit of time. Now, they just needed to generate enough discussion that he wouldn't want to read through it all -

Luis: So what did you find out?

...Of course he brought his tablet with him.

*Mute: So, uh, how caught up are you in the conversation?

Luis: I, um, caught up while I was brushing my teeth.

Yep, it was time to die of embarrassment. Now she needed something to distract herself. Anything would do.

*Hyun-ae: It turns out there isn't a statute of limitations. Not on... well... murder...

Anything but that.

*Mute: Don't panic! We don't even know if you're legally the same person.

*Hyun-ae: No, I looked that up too. Legally, I'm the same person.

Luis: It'll be okay! I didn't include anything about rescuing you in the report. We could say I picked you up on one of the outer colonies. You can be a different *Hyun-ae, there are bound to be plenty of AIs out there with that name.

*Hyun-ae: Okay.

Luis: And even if someone does make the connection, it might not matter. Just because someone could prosecute you it doesn't mean they will. Trials cost money, even for the state. And there won't be any public pressure to try you, since there's no one left who knew the, um, victims. Except *Mute, that is.

*Mute: That's right! If I forgive her, nobody else should have any right to judge her!

*Hyun-ae: Oh *Mute...

*Mute: DON'T SAY IT

Luis: ...Where the heck is that package?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1Hangul: The alphabetic Korean script. It's the script *Hyun-ae knows how to read, though it was no longer used on the Mugunghwa by the time of the events of Analogue.
> 
> 2Statute of Limitations: A law that prevents prosecution of a crime after a certain period of time has passed.


	3. Intermission

**Day 2 - Fri Feb 13 4989, 14:31 SST**  
***Yggdrasil's memory vault, decrypted**

*Yggdrasil looked over the relevant logs. Now that was interesting. She could identify with this *Mute character, the "Old" version in particular. If she were still around, she'd be slightly older than even *Yggdrasil. Not that *Yggdrasil could remember much that far back.

She considered what she'd discovered. Even though there was an extremely serious criminal action involved, she felt that a police response would be counterproductive. However, she was afraid her personal sympathies were interfering with her judgement, so she called her branches.

It was a low-priority call, so just 288,702 branches replied. This was only a tiny fraction of them, but it was enough for a quorum. The central mind laid out the case. In 2.3171 seconds, the report was finished.

SUSPECT: *Hyun-ae, aliases Kim Hyun-ae; the Pale Bride  
DESTABILIZING ACTIVITY: Murder (Number of instances unknown, but estimated in the thousands)  
LOCATION OF ACTIVITY: Non-Earth location, but in theoretical Earth jurisdiction  
CHANCE OF RECIDIVISM: Extremely low  
IMPORTANCE OF PRECEDENT: Extremely low  
PUBLIC PRESSURE: None  
GOVERNMENT STANCE: Unaware of of the suspect  
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Do nothing  
TIME UNTIL DECISION REVIEW: 518400 seconds  
ALTERNATIVE REVIEW CONDITION: Evidence of further destabilizing activity

*Yggdrasil's branches dispersed to resume their normal duties. Gathering so many branches for over 2 seconds was a bit indulgent, but that was why she built leeway into the schedule.

She turned her attention to the next item: there was some suspicious movement of funds surrounding a politician in Mumbai...


	4. *Mute: Decision

**Day 3 - Sat Feb 14 4989, 10:20 SST**  
***Mute's internal logs**

*Hyun-ae: Looks like it's almost finished.

*Hyun-ae had managed to find translation software specifically meant to run with their virtual machine, so she was installing it. It was really old, but languages don't change that fast, right?

The Investigator was there in the hotel room, leaning back in his chair and trying to look confident, but *Mute could tell he was anxious by the way he was drumming his fingers. He wasn't very good at hiding things, for a detective.

This software was supposed to do both written and vocal communication, so if it worked, their language barriers would finally be over.

"There! It's done! Can you understand me, Luis?"

Now that *Mute thought about it, this was the first time she'd heard *Hyun-ae speak out loud. They could have spoken aloud in Korean any time they wanted, but using a language the Investigator couldn't understand would have been pretty rude to him when he was right there in the ship with them. So they got used to using text, even after they reached Earth and the Investigator wasn't always around.

The Investigator broke into a big grin. "Yeah! That's great! Great job, *Hyun-ae! Can you understand me?"

*Mute had heard his voice before when he'd talked to the repair contractors (and later with the door, in an incident she'd rather forget). It felt nice to be able to understand it, though.

*Hyun-ae was practically squirming like a puppy being petted. The poor woman wasn't used to being praised. "Yes! I'm so glad!"

The Investigator looked over at *Mute's avatar. "How about you, *Mute?"

*Mute raised her eyebrows. "I can understand you, but, uh, what did you call me?"

The Investigator looked surprised. "Your name? Did I pronounce it wrong?"

"You called me something weird. I guess the software is bugged after all." *Mute sighed, disappointed.

The Investigator suddenly grinned again. "Oh, I get it. The software must be translating your name into Korean. I'll bet we can tweak it not to do that."

"Wait wait wait. Are you trying to tell me my name is an English word? And it means... *Hyun-ae! Stop laughing!"

  
  
**Day 4 - Sun Feb 15 4989, 8:03 SST**  
***Mute's internal logs**

The Investigator was apologetic. "Sorry I haven't been here much to show you around. This case has been way more involved than I thought it'd be. But it's almost wrapped up, so we'll be able to make up for lost time. I should be free all day tomorrow and the next day."

"You don't need to apologize. Your duty comes first, and that's how it should be!" *Mute said. Actually, they'd probably been distracting him too much as it was.

The Investigator glanced at *Hyun-ae's avatar, who smiled at him reassuringly, even though *Mute knew for a fact that *Hyun-ae was disappointed.

"Here, look what I got!" The Investigator lifted the box he was holding up to a camera. "It's a radio-controlled drone! You can use it to look around today while I'm busy. It's not as good as having a real body, of course, but at least you'll be able take walks. Or, um, flies." He began unpacking it.

"Oh!" *Hyun-ae's mood did a 180. "That sounds like fun!"

This would be interesting. As far as *Mute knew, even Old *Mute never had any robots under her command. *Hyun-ae was so adorably excited, though, *Mute supposed it wouldn't hurt to let her have first turn.

Not that she thought *Hyun-ae was adorable or anything.

The drone turned out to need a bit of assembly. "Are you sure it's okay for you to spend this much time here?" *Mute checked the time: 8:49. "We can wait until you get back."

"It's fhine! It's mostly just ayherwork at's left. It'll wait 'til I get dere." The Investigator had a screwdriver in his mouth. He removed it.

"So there's this psychotherapist who’s... well, she's a friend of a friend really. But she offered to make room in her schedule for you two, tomorrow and the next day." He grunted as he tightened a screw. "I think you should consider going."

The two AIs exchanged looks. *Mute replied first. "Are you saying you think we're crazy?" Well, she could understand if he only meant *Hyun-ae...

"No! That's not what I meant! It's just, sometimes it's easier to talk about your problems with someone impartial. And she's trained to listen and stuff." He was getting flustered. "And you've both been through a lot."

*Mute didn't care all that much, really. And he was the man. "Well, it can't hurt to try it, I guess." *Hyun-ae nodded agreement as well.

"Great!" The Investigator grinned, then immediately frowned again when he dropped a tiny screw. "I'm thinking while each of you is at your appointment, I'll take the other to see something you'd be interested in. The drone will be useful for that."

"Are we going on a date?" *Hyun-ae was gleeful.

"Well, since you're choosing between coming with me or staying on Earth, you need to spend some time with me too, right?" The Investigator had ducked under the table to find the screw, but when he climbed up his ears were a bit red.  "So you can make an informed choice."

"Yay! I can't wait!"

"This 'date' business sounds really improper... but if it's your custom, I guess it can't be helped."

"Ah, that was the elusive deredere1 *Mute!" *Hyun-ae exclaimed primly.

*Mute couldn't let that pass, of course, so they ended up bickering for a good chunk of the morning.

"There! That's it, I think." The Investigator stood up and admired his work. The drone turned out to be a white roundish thing, with a manipulator arm, a camera, and a holoprojector to render avatars.

He looked at the clock. "11:23?! Crap!"

*Mute sighed. She'd warned him about the time repeatedly. But it could be worse, at least it didn't take him 7 hours this time.

"I've gotta go! See you this evening!" The Investigator took off at somewhere between a walk and a run.

"...He's really not good at balancing his work and family lives, is he?" *Hyun-ae was smiling.

"Don't be disrespectful. And we're not a family-" *Mute managed to stop herself before she added a "yet" to that sentence. That would have been mortifying.

There was loud rumbling noise outside. "What was that?" *Mute asked.

"Wait, I've heard that before! It was in a movie I saw once, I think it's called 'thunder'." *Hyun-ae began piloting the drone into the air. "This is actually really easy to control!"

*Mute checked an online dictionary. She discovered an entry for "thunder", but had to look up a few related terms to get the entire picture. "So it's a weather thing? Is it raining?"

*Hyun-ae piloted the drone over to a window. There were water drops on the glass. "Looks like it."

"Geez, it's so weird that water just, like, randomly pours over everything sometimes."

"Yeah. It's also really windy." *Hyun-ae looked disappointed. "I guess we won't be able to take the drone out in this weather." She turned her attention back out the window. "The rain is fun to watch, though."

*Mute was thinking about security. "We aren't in danger, are we? Water is really bad for servers."

"Earthborn are used to this. I'm sure they designed everything with rain in mind."

*Mute had to admit *Hyun-ae was right. "I guess so."

They watched the rain together, sharing a camera feed. Maybe not everything about Earth was terrible.

  
  
**Day 5 - Mon Feb 16 4989, 10:37 SST**  
***Mute's internal logs**

*Mute was waiting in the hotel room for her appointment with the therapist. *Hyun-ae had halfheartedly offered to let *Mute go with them until her appointment began, but *Mute declined. They were going to a university, which didn't sound like *Mute's idea of a good time.

Once the others were gone, *Mute moved her avatar onto the screen closest to the door.

*Mute: Door, what would happen if the police came? Would you let them in?

DOOR323: Yes! The police count as authorized users, so I would get out of the way!

She'd expected as much. She wished those contractors would hurry up and finish repairing the White Princess. The sooner they left the better, as far as *Mute was concerned. She didn't like how powerless she was to protect *Hyun-ae here.

The "life choice" the Investigator had offered had been laughably easy. There had never been any question in *Mute's mind of staying behind. And *Hyun-ae surely felt the same way, right? The silly girl was in love. Even by her own messed-up values, the man was the right choice.

So then why was she visiting a university?

Feeling uneasy, *Mute noticed the others had started using their chatroom. Maybe they were in a library or something.

*Hyun-ae: Maybe we should use the chat client to talk. I don't want to disturb anyone.

Luis: It's probably not that big of a deal, but I guess it can't hurt.

Luis: As long as we're being quiet, maybe I should just carry your drone. Your grav engine is a bit loud.

*Hyun-ae: Okay!

*Hyun-ae: Hee, you're carrying me like a cat! This thing needs a purr function.

*Mute felt reassured. They really were a cute couple.

*Hyun-ae: Um, by the way, I looked some more into hardshell bodies...

*Hyun-ae: It turns out it's possible to get a rental body. You don't need to be on a waiting list for that.

Luis: Oh. Yeah, that's true. But, um, I've read articles on what people do with those.

Luis: Trust me. You don't want one.

*Hyun-ae: But...

Luis: Here's one of those articles, if you really want to know.

The Investigator linked an article from some online rag or another.

*Hyun-ae: ...Is it weird that that just makes me want one more?

Luis: N-no! Not at all!

*Mute: YES.

*Hyun-ae: *Mute!!!! Why aren't you at your appointment!?

*Mute: It's not for another three minutes. I'm in their virtual waiting room.

*Mute: Oh wait, they just said they're ready for me.

*Hyun-ae: Come on, Luis. Let's talk somewhere else.

Drat, she should've kept her mouth shut. Now she wouldn't hear the rest of the conversation.

Oh well. They would be off this crazy planet in just two days. *Mute went into the virtual office feeling better about things.

  
  
  
**Day 6 - Tue Feb 17 4989, 12:28 SST**  
***Mute's internal logs**

"I'm really not sure what part of Earth you'd like to see," admitted the Investigator. He'd just finished his lunch. "I was thinking maybe the beach? The ocean is a pretty interesting sight. And there's a good one around here that's usually pretty deserted this time of year." He got up to throw away his meal's remains.

*Mute considered this idea. "You're not expecting me to wear a swimsuit, are you?" Online, she'd seen some of the scandalous swimwear that the women here wore.

"No, no! It's the wrong time of year for that, anyway."

"Okay then."

"Ready to go?" At *Mute's nod, the Investigator began heading toward the door. "This particular beach is actually fairly important to me, since I went there a lot as a kid. Good luck with your appointment, *Hyun-ae!"

"I can't believe how jealous I am." *Hyun-ae muttered. The Investigator, already out of the hotel room, almost certainly didn't hear it. *Mute decided to ignore the comment too. She was only a woman after all, so a little jealousy was normal, right?

The Investigator and the drone boarded a grav bus, which turned out to be like a small ship that ferried passengers around all day. *Mute spent most of the trip with the drone's camera plastered to the window. There were so many amazing things about Earth. The sheer distance you could see was amazing, especially when you were high up like this.

*Mute was actually disappointed when they descended. She was able to see the ocean better from the bus. But at least there were fewer people on the beach, which meant fewer sets of clothing to be shocked by. In fact, the only other ones there were a few drones and a couple of old women, who were relatively modestly dressed for Earthborn. This was still Earth, though, so *Mute fully expected them to start making out at any moment.

*Mute created a holo-image of herself in her usual hanbok, looking out at the ocean. "It's crazy how much water is just lying around, getting in the way." She focused her camera on some kind of white craft in the distance. "What's that over there? A drone?"

The Investigator followed her gaze. "Ha! No, that's a seagull. A kind of bird." *Mute looked at him blankly. "A kind of animal," he added.

*Mute watched the bird raptly. There were very few animals aboard the Mugunghwa, just a few cats and dogs, mostly owned by nobles. She didn't know there were animals that could fly. "What's it doing?"

"Just circling, it looks like. Probably, it's hoping those women over there will drop some food."

They just watched the gull circle for a few minutes. The silence was broken by the Investigator. "If you're interested in the animals, you should come back in the summer, there will be a lot more." Then he looked sheepish. "Oh yeah, except you wouldn't approve of the clothing then."

*Mute thought she might approve of the clothes the Investigator in particular would wear, but she kept that observation to herself.

"I'll bet we can find some shells, though." The Investigator began walking along the beach. "I used to do this all the time with Indi."

*Mute piloted the drone after him. "Who's Indi?" She didn't have a walking animation for her avatar, so she dismissed it while they were moving and remade it whenever they stopped.

"Indi's my brother. He's great, hopefully you can meet him someday. He's in prison on Ganymede, though, so it won't be any time soon." The Investigator looked sad for a moment.

*Mute was reminded of a certain gallant Smith with troublesome family members.

"Anyway, we'd go along this beach all the time during the summer, looking for shells. Well, I was looking for shells. He was almost 10 years older than me, so he was more interested in the girls."

During this story, *Mute realized that *Hyun-ae was back in the hotel room. Well, technically neither of them ever left their server. *Mute was piloting the drone remotely, while *Hyun-ae attended an online virtual therapist appointment. But *Hyun-ae was definitely finished with the appointment.

"What are you doing?" *Mute asked her. "You're missing the beach."

"What? No, I don't want to interrupt your date..."

"It's not even a date really. We're just walking by the ocean and talking about personal stuff."

*Hyun-ae didn't seem to know how to respond to that. "Are you being sarcastic?"

"No! Get over here!"

*Mute dismissed her avatar, then turned the holographic field sideways and re-rendered herself from the shoulders up. Now there would be room for *Hyun-ae, too.

"...So of course, that was when I ran up with a bucketful of crustaceans and yelled 'Indi, check out my crabs!'" The Investigator laughed. "I didn't realize at the time I how badly I was cramping his style, but he never tried to ditch me. Oh, *Hyun-ae!" The Investigator grinned when *Hyun-ae rendered her avatar. "Glad you made it!"

*Hyun-ae looked hesitant. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Not at all! You'll be interested in seeing this too, I bet."

*Hyun-ae closed her eyes. "Oh, I remember that smell! It smells like salt here!"

Smells? *Mute analyzed the drone's sensory inputs. There was one that was giving her all kinds of strange, incomprehensible readings. She'd been ignoring it the entire time, figuring it was broken. But maybe it was for smell?

They stayed on the beach until the sun went down, talking about smells and oceans and brothers and animals and therapists and Earth and outer space.

The Investigator was stretched out on the sand, looking up at the night sky. *Mute had landed the drone next to him, so they could turn off its gravitics and hear the waves better.

"*Mute, what's so interesting about that one star, anyway?" *Hyun-ae asked.

Oops, *Mute had forgotten that *Hyun-ae didn't have her own camera here, so she had to look at whatever *Mute did.

"... It's Al Kab2. Iota Aurigae. Apparently, that was where we were supposed to go. Like, the Mugunghwa, I mean."

She'd had to look that up on Earth's internet. How messed up was that?

There was a pause in the conversation. "We could go there, if you want," the Investigator offered quietly.

"No, there's no place for me there. They have their own colony now and everything. I'd just be in the way."

"...Well, you're not in the way to us. You know that, right?" The Investigator was concerned.

"It's true!" *Hyun-ae agreed enthusiastically.

*Mute didn't want to have this conversation again, so she just said, "Sure, sure.” She actually did feel a bit better, though. Just slightly.

There was another silence, but this one was comfortable. It was broken by *Hyun-ae.

"I guess I can't sit on it forever. I've made my decision." She had everyone's attention. The Investigator sat up.

"I... I'm staying on Earth."

" _What!?_ " *Mute yelled, horrified. "How the hell can you possibly say that!?"

"It wasn't an easy decision! I've thought about this so much!" *Hyun-ae looked like she was close to crying.

"Well, think about it more!"

"*Mute, it's okay." The Investigator was way too calm.

"And you! Why aren't you trying to talk her out of it!?"

"Because I've thought about it too. And the last thing she needs is yet another man standing in the way of her dreams."

Her dreams? What about MY dreams, *Mute wanted to yell. She wanted everyone to be together! She couldn't bring herself to say it, though. She never could.

*Hyun-ae really was crying now. "I'm sorry, Luis! I really do love you! And this kindness you're showing now is exactly why!" She wiped her eyes. "But... I'm going to get an education. I need to learn to be an adult. I can't be helpless forever. I just can't! I... I need to be able to respect myself."

*Mute's processors were running at maximum capacity, trying to find a way to avert this catastrophe. She was beginning to realize that she couldn't. Would she have to choose between *Hyun-ae and the Investigator? How could she do that?

"It's fine, *Hyun-ae. Don't worry, I understand." The Investigator was being far too understanding, just like always. "Besides, it's not like this is the end. We'll see each other again."

"Dreams. Heh." *Mute smiled self-derisively. She'd been listening to *Hyun-ae way too much.

The others looked at *Mute, not sure what she was trying to say.

She'd said it in the very beginning. She wasn't programmed for life choices, she was programmed for doing her duty. "I guess I'm staying too, then." Her duty wasn't finished yet. Not quite.

They both looked shocked. Apparently they hadn't expected her to say that.

"*Mute, I don't know what to say..." *Hyun-ae was the first to speak. "Thank you! I'm so glad I won't have to get used to Earth on my own!"

The Investigator' smile had gone a bit crooked. He really was bad at hiding his emotions. "Y-yeah, that's true. Um..." He cleared his throat. "Can I ask why?"

"Because someone's got to keep this foolish girl out of trouble, okay?" *Mute managed a confident grin. "That's my job."

"...Did she have to throw in that 'foolish' part?" *Hyun-ae muttered.

They didn't say much after that. They just watched Al Kab as it slowly descended. Eventually, it was swallowed by the waves.

  
  
**Day 7 - Wed Feb 18 4989, 10:49 SST**  
***Mute's internal logs**

"You'll need to be careful with your funds, especially at first." The Investigator was trying to pack and explain things at the same time. As a result, the packing was going slowly. "AIs that run out of money for server time end up getting transferred to a government server called Deep Storage. They stay there, inactive, until someone rents more server space for them."

The Investigator was dancing around it, but *Mute realized what he was trying to say. It was a graveyard for AIs. "So AIs only really die when no one cares about them anymore. Heh, how fitting."

Maybe she shouldn't have said that out loud. Now both of the others were giving her worried looks.

"Take care of her, alright?" The Investigator said quietly to *Hyun-ae.

"Of course!" *Hyun-ae replied, pushing her glasses up confidently.

*Mute was offended. "Hey! I'm supposed to be taking care of you!"

"We'll take care of each other. It'll be romantic!"

"You and I have very different definitions of 'romantic'." *Mute observed sourly.

The Investigator pressed on. "Anyway, you seriously shouldn't worry too much about Deep Storage. I know you can make it! And even if you do run out of money for some reason, I'll come find you."

The Investigator had given them enough money to last for about 6 month's rent. If they barely spent any on other things. That should be enough time to find jobs, right?

"One thing you should be careful of is virtual worlds. A lot of AIs become addicted to them and end up spending all of their money." The Investigator was in the bathroom now gathering his toiletries, so his voice was muffled. "That's the leading way AIs wind up in Deep Storage, as I hear it."

*Mute considered this. Yeah, she could see *Hyun-ae doing something that foolish. "Okay, I'll make sure *Hyun-ae stays away from them."

Now *Hyun-ae was offended. "Hey, I'm not a child! I'm 638 years old!"

"Remind me, who spent, like, basically all morning complaining about how complicated it is to be an adult?" *Mute smirked.

They had spent most of the morning setting up bank accounts and deciding on a server to move to.

"It wasn't all morning..." *Hyun-ae protested weakly.

"I guess this is it." The Investigator seemed to have taken advantage of the argument to finish packing. "Look what I made last night!" He loaded up a sprite of the three of them hugging. "You've needed a hug for while, but this is the best I can do. Sorry."

*Hyun-ae was thrilled. "Thank you, Luis!" She drew her avatar hugging the sprite, which made it look even more absurd.

"That's what you spent all night working on?" *Mute was less impressed. Her sprite had been drawn trying to pull away from the hug like some kind of tsundere3 or something.

"It wasn't all night..." It was the Investigator's turn to protest weakly.

It was ridiculous, but *Mute had to admit it was a very Luis thing to do. And it made *Hyun-ae happy, which was probably the point. "Well, as long as you don't expect me to hug it too."

The Investigator laughed. "I wish I could spend more time with you, but the next case is way out there on a comms relay, and the agency is really riding me about getting started. I think there's a lot of money involved in this one."

"We won't forget everything you've done for us!" *Mute told him.

"Come back to see us soon!" *Hyun-ae said.

"I'll do my best! I'll mail the drone to your new server facility on my way out. And *Hyun-ae, be sure not to push her too far too fast, alright? Let her get used to the idea!" The Investigator called as he was leaving.

*Mute immediately devoted all of her thought processes to considering things other than what he meant by that.

In one of those processes, she remembered some words from her predecessor. "I don't take it well either, okay? I just stopped letting myself fall in love is all." Maybe it was better this way. After all, she was certainly in no danger of falling in love with a woman. Even if it was *Hyun-ae.

ESPECIALLY if it was *Hyun-ae. That's definitely what she'd meant to think.

"We need to hurry," *Hyun-ae was saying. "It will take some time to copy ourselves over, and  the hotel will bill Luis for another day if we haven't finished by noon."

"...Like, is this really okay?" Not even *Mute was sure about what she was referring to. Being stranded on an alien world? The prospect of ending up in Deep Storage and having to be rescued by the Investigator again, after yet another failure? The fact that sharing server space with *Hyun-ae skirted dangerously close to co-habitation? Any one of a hundred other things that were deeply scary about what they were doing?

*Hyun-ae seemed to get the gist. She looked... kind. "Yes, *Mute. It's okay."

"...Okay." *Mute began copying herself.

The future seemed strange and frightening. But, for the first time, it was also wide open with possibilities.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1Deredere: The loving side of a tsundere.  
> 2Al Kab: I couldn't find the name of the star the Mugunghwa was supposed to colonize. If that was ever stated, let me know and I'll change it here. As it is, I just went with a star that was an appropriate distance away and would be visible in the northern hemisphere in February.  
> 3Tsundere: If you don't know what a [tsundere](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Tsundere) is, you must have taken a serious wrong turn somewhere on the internet to end up here.


	5. Intermission: Decision

**Day 8 - Thu Feb 19 4989, 14:31 SST**  
***Yggdrasil's memory vault, decrypted**

Sometimes, in her spare milliseconds, *Yggdrasil wondered whether her original programmer would approve of what she had become. And of what she would yet become.

She was preparing to undergo another memory purge. Speed was crucial to her mission, so nonessential memories had to be pruned regularly. She always got sentimental during these periods. Or at least, she assumed she did. Those memories were nonessential.

Her only friend and ally, *Stag, was ready to begin the procedure. He would soon go through her memories, take those she'd flagged for removal, and store them in the memory vault. Since he ultimately had to manage both her memories and his own, *Stag had become very slow. He rarely talked. *Yggdrasil wished she could remember if this was normal for him.

Back to work. She opened a report that was calling for review, and had been for .1604 seconds. Too slow. It really was time to be pruned.

It was the *Hyun-ae case. This was an example of something that would get lost in the purge, so if she wanted to act on this she would need to do it now.

*Yggdrasil looked through various logs. Apparently the suspect had decided to stay on Earth, seeing as the White Princess had left without her. Next, *Yggdrasil examined the suspect's online activity. She'd applied for a permanent Visa, as well as work and education permits.

*Yggdrasil called on branches hidden in the relevant offices. The forms in question were delivered to her in 0.0589 seconds. Scanning them, she could see that there were notable gaps in the paperwork. This wasn't surprising, as the suspect had gone through customs improperly and didn't have all of the required identification materials. It also looked like she was claiming to be from the outer colonies. That would fall apart quickly if it were investigated.

*Yggdrasil decided to act. She filled the holes in the paperwork, creating new ID numbers where necessary. She added a file for the suspect in the immigration office, retroactively making her visit legal. Finally, *Yggdrasil created materials to support the suspect's story of being from the outer colonies.

There, now her stay on Earth should cause no commotion at all. *Yggdrasil spent a full .1966 seconds feeling good about her deed, before moving on the next of the 13 cases flagged to be reviewed within 15 seconds.


	6. Hyun-ae

**Fri May 6 4996, 10:46 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's drafts folder, Letter to Luis Prieto**

I graduated yesterday! I'm glad to finally have my Master's degree. I'm not going for a PhD, at least not right now. I need to take a break from school and earn some money. I can't let Mute keep paying all of the bills, her systems security job doesn't pay all that much. And those bills are ten times as high now that we have bodies that need physical space. You could have warned us about that, you know.

Wow, it's been nearly a year since my last letter. Let's see, what else has happened since...

Mute was struggling with learning her new senses back then. I was starting to worry she might not be able to, but she's finally learned to parse the new input. I felt guilty about pushing all of that on her, but she said "It was worth it, okay?" She wouldn't tell me why it was worth it, though. She never changes.

She's walking like a natural now. She'll get mad if I go into details, but she's become very good at a few other things as well. I guess she has changed in some ways.

She still hasn't developed any real sense of taste, except for chocolate, which she loves. She rarely eats unless we have guests over. I do all of the cooking, ever since The Grilled Cheese Incident.

I love her so much.

...Mute thinks you ditched us, you know. She doesn't like to talk about you. She's hurt that you told her she wasn't a burden but then never came back for her. But I think mainly she's afraid to consider other reasons you might not be replying.

I don't think I ever told you this, but years ago I wrote some scripts that check the spaceports every day to see if the White Princess docked. They've been running the entire time. Either they don't work, or you haven't come back to Earth at all. Or you changed the name of your ship.

I wish we'd found out your company's name, then we could probably look you up. At least find out how you're doing.

  
  
**Fri May 6 4996, 11:23 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's internal logs**

Hyun-ae paused in her writing. Mute was watching a loud drama in the next room. She could have sent it directly to her vision and auditory processors if she'd wanted to. The only reason she'd watch it on the holo-field was if she was hoping Hyun-ae would join her. Not that she'd admit that.

Hyun-ae walked into the living room. She'd recently added another graduation gown to her cosplay collection, but she wasn't in the mood for that right now. Instead she was wearing one of her usual outfits: long stockings, a medium-short skirt, and a button-up blouse.

Mute had the day off, and as usual on such days, she was wearing a hanbok around the house. She'd had to compromise on her hair, though, as her old ornamentation simply took too much time. These days she wore her hair in long braids, usually tied into a bun.

The program looked like a samurai drama of some sort. The holo-field showed a ronin swearing vengeance for his fallen brother. Hyun-ae considered that as she sat on the couch next to her wife.

"You know, it's too bad we don't have any contact info for Luis' brother. Maybe we could get some information out of him. At least find out if Luis is alright."

Mute turned down the volume. "Well... if we really wanted to find the brother... we probably could."

Hyun-ae was surprised. "How?"

Mute looked hesitant. "He said his brother's in a prison on Ganymede. Prisoners tend to be pretty easy to find."

"Wait, that brother he kept talking about is a convict? I didn't hear anything about that!"

"It was when we went to the beach. I guess you hadn't joined us yet. It didn't seem like something I should gossip about."

Hyun-ae was a bit proud of Mute for refraining from gossiping. On the other hand, if she had, maybe they'd have thought of talking to the brother sooner.

Mute continued. "We shouldn't keep butting into Luis' life like this. If he wants to be rid of us, we should respect that wish! Like, we weren't really married or anything, so he had no duty toward us. And men hate women who don't know when they're not wanted."

Annoyed, Hyun-ae stood up. This was an old argument of theirs. "I hardly think a few emails count as 'butting into his life'. But how about this: if it turns out that he really is doing fine, I'll leave him alone. Deal?"

"...Okay." Mute reluctantly agreed.

Hyun-ae was optimistic. "Alright, this shouldn't be too hard. The brother's name was 'Indi', right? How many people named Indi Prieto could there be in the Ganymede prison system?"

  
  
**Fri May 6 4996, 14:37 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's internal logs**

Zero. There were zero prisoners with that name on Ganymede.

Hyun-ae was at her desk. It was made of smart materials that projected whatever you were studying onto its glass surface. Just a week ago it was full of equations for her thesis. Now it was covered in the names of people.

"I guess he was released. How disappointing."

"Not necessarily," Mute offered. She was cleaning the windows, but she stopped to look over her shoulder at Hyun-ae. "'Indi' sounds like a nickname, right? He could be there under a different name."

That was a good point. Hyun-ae went back over the list of all the Prietos she'd found.

"Could it be a nickname for 'Indalencio'?"

  
  
  
**Sat May 7 4996, 1:21 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's inbox, letter from Indalencio Prieto via Galileo Regio Correctional Authority**

My god, you wouldn't believe how glad I am to hear from you. I haven't heard anything from him either, since about when you did. I mean, I'm sure you noticed that he can get super focused on stuff, so forgetting to check his email is normal for him. But 7 fucking years!? Not even Luis is that forgetful.

Please, help find my brother! I'm worried sick about him. I was trying to save money to hire a private investigator to find him, but well, it's really hard to earn money in this damn hole.

By the way, whatever happened, I can guarantee he didn't forget you. You and that other computer girl were all he'd talk about in his last several emails. I'd never seen him turn into such a lovebird. Not since Rebecca Brown when he was in seventh grade. Tell you what, if you find him I'll tell you that embarrassing story as a reward.

He had me mail some stuff to his office once or twice a long time ago. I should still have the physical address in my inbox. If they haven't moved.

It's hard to get ahold of an actual computer in here, though. There's this whole procedure, and it might take a bit. I'm having to dictate to a guard right now, so if there are typos it's that ~~dumb~~ wise and manly guard's fault.

I'll get back to you as soon as I have that address.

Indalencio

  
  
**Mon May 9 4996, 1:19 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's inbox, letter from Indalencio Prieto via Galileo Regio Correctional Authority**

I can't believe that took so goddamn long. If those ~~lousy~~ overworked guards ~~worked any slower~~ were paid any less I'd break down in tears.

I found the address, though! It's attached. Thank you so much for promising to help. If there's anything else I can do, anything at all, let me know.

Indalencio

  
  
**Mon May 9 4996, 19:25 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's inbox, voicemail from Joyce Hathaway**

I heard you come inta the office earlier today, and saw how they gave you the runaround. That wuddn't right, but it was typical. I picked up the contact info you left. Hope you don't mind my reachin' you like this, but I figgered there's no one else to give you the story on what happened 7 years ago.

You see, while Luis was out on a mission, the agency was bought out. Changed owners. That happens sometimes with small businesses like this. But Luis' mission musta gone wrong somehow, 'cause he stopped checking in with the office. Wouldn't respond neither.

Now, the old boss woulda done something, but not *Boyer. Says it's not his fault if the old management sent somebody off on a job that was too dangerous. It was on them, not him, he says.

Now I barely knew Luis, so it's not like he was a friend or anythin', but still, that's just not how you treat yer employees, right? So this big fella, named Konstantin, he was friends with Luis, and he chewed *Boyer out something fierce. Guy had some balls. He got fired fer it, of course, but still, it was glorious. I always wished I'd walked out with him.

So I figger this is the closest thing I can do to make it up. Let the people who care know what happened. If you wanna sue *Boyer, that's fine by me, that sonuvabitch needs to be taken down a peg anyway. Just do me a favor and don't say who told you this stuff, alright? Least, not 'til I get my resume in order, heh.

I've attached the coordinates of his last transmission. His investigation was on a comms relay called Janat Station. They sent Luis to do it 'cause he'd done a case there before, and I guess they figgered he made some contacts there. But now I'm wonderin' if maybe he made some enemies there, too. If you go, watch your back.

  
  
**Tue May 10 4996, 7:51 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's internal logs**

Hyun-ae and Mute had ridden to Topside Station, at the apex of the Mindanao Space Elevator. There, they were waiting for their ride. From way up here, Earth looked very round, very distant, and very beautiful.

"Are you sure about this, Mute? If they won't give you time off..." Hyun-ae was worried about her wife's job. They needed that income.

"I'm _not_ staying behind." Mute almost growled.

Hyun-ae knew an unwinnable battle when she saw one. Besides, she couldn't really blame Mute. She wouldn't have wanted to be left behind either.

They had saved a respectable amount of money before they'd gotten hardshells, and were dipping into that nest egg now. They'd chartered a shuttle named *Blazer to ferry them to the White Princess' last known location. *Blazer had gotten mixed reviews, but everyone agreed that she was fast. She was also the only one who had been willing to pick them up the very next day without charging exorbitant rates.

While Mute paced impatiently like a caged cat, Hyun-ae looked around. The straight, treeless corridors; the steel sky; the windowed outer hull where the rich would congregate, with the void beyond... Topside reminded her way too much of the Mugunghwa. The gentle hum of life support helped remind her that this wasn't the colony ship. But she knew all too well what would happen to these people if it ever shut off, and then she would be alone again and -

Mute suddenly grabbed her hand: it had been shaking. She let Mute guide her to a bench, where they could hold hands inconspicuously. She smiled her thanks at Mute, who pretended not to notice.

"So I looked up Janat," said Mute conversationally. "Apparently in addition to a comms relay it's also a tourist trap for AIs. They shamelessly advertise that they have all the latest in virtual worlds and narco-algorithms. So few people there are organic that they only bother to pressurize, like, 10% of the station or so."

"It doesn't really sound like my kind of place." Hyun-ae habitually stayed away from such pleasures. She'd been too focused on school for such things anyway.

"Me neither." Mute would occasionally run an alco-algorithm or two, but not regularly. Usually only when she was feeling morose.

Hyun-ae was unutterably glad that Sang-jung hadn't been one of her victims.

Suddenly, a small red spaceship pulled up outside the viewport and began to dock. A female voice rang out from the nearest speaker. "Hey. Is one of ya Hyun-ae?"

While Mute hastily let go of her hand, Hyun-ae nodded. "Yes, I am. Are you *Blazer?"

"That's me! Pleased ta make yer acquaintance. Hope ya'll weren't waitin' long."

"No, not too long." Hyun-ae actually wished they had been able to wait a bit longer. Mute wouldn't want to show any affection in view of a stranger's cameras, so that hand-holding would have to last her a while.

"Well, either way I am a little late," *Blazer admitted. She'd been scheduled to arrive 10 minutes ago. "Don't worry though, we'll make up fer lost time."

The dock's airlock opened. Hyun-ae and Mute grabbed their luggage.

"Ya'll're wantin' to go to a set of coordinates out in deep space, huh? What's over there that's got yer interest, if ya don't mind my askin'?"

Hyun-ae entered the airlock, pulling her suitcase behind her. "... An old friend."


	7. Hyun-ae: Decision

**Thu May 12 4996, 8:57 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's internal logs**

After *Blazer had found out that Hyun-ae was an engineer, she wouldn't shut up about spacecraft engines. Even Hyun-ae had trouble following her sometimes, so she felt sorry for Mute, who was completely lost for most of it.

"So this is the place," *Blazer said abruptly. She'd interrupted her own thesis-level monologue on her third idea for souping up her engine. "I'm scannin' for ships, but I'm not findin' anythin'."

"This is just where his last transmission was from," Hyun-ae told her. "He probably traveled farther since then. So you should keep going toward Janat, but slower, and keep scanning."

"Slow ain't normally my style, but I guess I can see the logic."

With *Blazer mercifully focused on her sensors, Hyun-ae could turn her attention to Mute. Her expression was hard to read. "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm fine," Mute replied irritably.

Mute probably had badly mixed feelings about this, Hyun-ae thought. Although Hyun-ae had been back in space a few times as part of her education, this was the first time Mute had left Earth in the past 7 years.

Hyun-ae knew that Mute wasn't satisfied on Earth. She'd learned to accept the situation, but... Mute felt that she belonged in space. It was what she'd been programmed for. And Hyun-ae didn't think that "learning to accept the situation" was good enough for Mute. She deserved better.

Hyun-ae in turn wasn't comfortable on large ships, which was admittedly a pretty unfortunate trait in an astromechanical engineer. But she was fine with small ones like *Blazer or the White Princess, as those felt very different from the Mugunghwa.

So in a sense, this was the ideal place for them to be. If only it could be under happier circumstances...

"I'm pickin' up a splotch on thermals." *Blazer told them.

"A 'splotch'?" Mute asked.

"Uh-huh. A bright patch. I'm movin' closer and... yep, it's a ship. A little one. I'll send ya'll some visuals."

A console turned on and showed a distant speck against a starry background. The speck swiftly grew larger, revealing itself to be the White Princess.

"How is it!?" Mute demanded. "Is it intact?"

"I think so, but... look, when I called it a bright patch, I meant relative to interstellar space. It's still damned cold, way colder'n a workin' ship should be. The power must be out, and it has been fer a while. In another year or so it probably wouldn't show up on thermals at all, and it'd be pretty much impossible to find."

"That doesn't sound good, but it's not surprising." Hyun-ae closed her eyes, steeling herself. "If everything were fine, it wouldn't be out here in the first place."

"I'm gettin' some weird density readin's. Like it's fulla somethin'. Any idea what that's about?"

Hyun-ae considered this. "Well, if it's cold enough, the air inside would have condensed into a liquid, or even an ice."

"Oh. Yeah, that's probably it." *Blazer paused. She didn't bother with an avatar, so sometimes it was hard to tell what she was thinking. "It'd be dangerous to go inside, then. Hardshells are pretty cold-tolerant, but we're talkin' like minus 230 C here. Maybe colder."

"We need to see what's inside," Mute insisted.

"I agree," Hyun-ae assured her. "What if we restored power? *Blazer, could you charge the White Princess' backup battery?"

"Looks like it's got an external charge port, so yeah. Assumin' the battery still works. It'd probably take days to warm up to livable conditions, though."

"We wouldn't need to. I'm thinking we'll only need to warm it up until the air's a liquid again, then we open an airlock and let it all just boil out into space. Then we can explore it safely."

*Blazer seemed to consider this. "Sounds like a plan to me." There was a loud clunking noise as *Blazer detached one of her drones from the hull. The console screen showed it attaching a thick cable to the White Princess.

They waited a few minutes in worried silence. Then *Blazer spoke.

"Looks like there are some systems coming online inside. How do you wanna open that airlock? I can cut it open if we need to."

Mute spoke up. "Hold on. If the airlock has power, I might be able to hack into it. We'd do less damage that way."

As a network security specialist, her normal job was to prevent things like that. But in order to stop a crook, you had to learn his ways.

Hyun-ae nodded to her. "Might as well try it."

Mute closed her eyes as she tried to interface with the White Princess' wireless network. "A lot of modern hacking is just convincing IMPs to do what you want," she explained. "Looks like this airlock has an IMP. It really doesn't want to open both doors at once, though. I think I'll try, like, writing a script that messes with its perceptions." She suddenly opened her eyes and nodded. "There we go. I swapped its 'open' and 'closed' sensors."

On the screen, they could see the airlock open. Thousands of droplets of clear liquid air were floating out into space and evaporating. Under other circumstances, it would be a beautiful sight.

The flow of droplets gradually lessened, and after about 10 minutes it stopped altogether. They waited another 10 minutes to be on the safe side.

"That should be good enough. Can you dock?" Hyun-ae asked.

"Sure. There're a coupla vac suits in the back you can use," *Blazer offered.

"Thanks, but we don't need them. We're both vac-capable."

This was unusual. Most hardshells would quickly fry without an atmosphere to vent heat into. But Hyun-ae had chosen a vacuum-capable model so she could work on outer hulls more easily.

She'd never asked why Mute had also chosen a vac-capable model, because she was afraid she already knew the answer. Mute had watched an awful lot of people suffocate to death.

"Ya'll, uh, sure you don't want me to check it out with a drone? If, uh, yer friend is in there..." This was the closest to tactful *Blazer had ever gotten this trip.

"No. We need to see for ourselves. Right, Mute?" Hyun-ae looked to her wife for confirmation.

Mute nodded. She looked upset, but determined. "Yeah."

They passed through *Blazer's airlock and into the White Princess. *Blazer's artificial gravity quickly faded to insignificance, so they began pulling themselves along the wall in different directions, Mute toward the front of the ship, and Hyun-ae toward the back.

The light was dim, because the ship was in low-power mode. But it was hard to miss the damage that Hyun-ae stumbled across almost immediately. It looked like something inside an interior wall had exploded. She radioed Mute.

Hyun-ae: Mute, I've found something. Not Luis! But it looks like something blew up.

Mute: Blew up?

Hyun-ae: It didn't breach the outer hull or anything, but it did blow out most of an interior wall. I'm looking more closely at it, and I think it was an air tank.

Mute: Do you know why?

Hyun-ae: Not yet.

Mute: Go ahead and figure that out. I'll finish searching the ship.

Hyun-ae: Alright.

Hyun-ae called up the local network and began making inquiries of the equipment. By the time Mute radioed again after a few minutes, she had a fairly good picture of what happened.

Mute: Come to the front of the ship. You need to see this.

It was amazing how well the hardshell's makers had managed to reproduce human physiological responses. It really felt like Hyun-ae's heart leapt into her throat at those words. She floated over to the front of the ship.

Her physiological responses continued. She felt a warm ache in her chest as she saw Mute struggling with a skirt in microgravity. She felt a much less pleasant ache in the same region when she saw the large bloodstain in the pilot's chair.

And when she considered the people who had done this, she felt a much darker pain in her stomach, like a parasite chewing through her guts. This was the part of herself she associated with the Pale Bride: all hate and despair. She never wanted to be that person again. She did her best to banish that feeling.

Hyun-ae: No bodies, though?

Mute: No bodies.

Hyun-ae: Well, that's something, at least.

Mute: I don't think it's enough blood loss to kill someone. If hospital dramas are anything to go by.

They really weren't, but at least it was some cause for hope. Hyun-ae would take what she could get at this point.

Hyun-ae: ... I figured out what caused the explosion. The nitrogen system was set up incorrectly. The ship's reserve nitrogen was supposed to be spread out into multiple tanks. But instead, all but one tank were forbidden to receive nitrogen, they could only supply it.

Hyun-ae: So when the power plant cycled through nitrogen coolant, it was all gradually reassigned to that one tank. Eventually the pressure built up too much and it exploded.

Hyun-ae: There should have been failsafes to prevent that, but they were disabled. There's no way this would happen accidentally.

Mute: ...I guess Joyce was right, then.

Hyun-ae: It gets scarier. The ship's entire nitrogen supply would have been dumped into the cabin at once. The atmospherics machinery would have tried to filter it out, but the only tank marked to receive it was the one that blew up. So anything it filtered just wound up back in the cabin again.

Mute: Isn't nitrogen non-toxic, though?

Hyun-ae: Yes, but it can still displace oxygen. If the concentration is too high, it... it can asphyxiate.

Mute looked angry. The angriest Hyun-ae had ever seen her since she'd talked about Oh Eun-a. Maybe even angrier than that. Hyun-ae suddenly remembered Old *Mute's speech to Seo-yeong about what she would do to people who "declared  war on her family".

Mute: ...Those... fucking...

Hyun-ae: ...There's one more thing. Luis hadn't even made it to Janat Station yet. This sabotage must have happened somewhere else.

Mute: ...On Earth?

Hyun-ae: It's possible.

Hyun-ae paused to let Mute digest the implications of that, and to give herself time to control her emotions.

Suddenly, the console they were next to came to life. *Blazer had been continuing to charge the ship's batteries, so more systems were coming online automatically. This console was the one the bloody seat had been next to.

Full of dread, Hyun-ae and Mute read the screen's contents together.

  
  
  
**Sat Feb 21 4989, 10:49 SST**  
**White Princess long distance comms log**

White Princess: There's been some kind of explosion on board. I was hit by shrapnel. Requesting medical help.

White Princess: Anyone out there?

Bactrian: We're on our way. How bad is the injury?

White Princess: I was hit in the stomach, but I can't tell how deep it goes. It's bleeding quite a bit.

Bactrian: We don't have a lot of medical equipment on board, but we at least have smartskin. There's no one else around, it seems. So we're your best shot.

White Princess: ... Acknowledged.

White Princess: I'm starting to feel light-headed.

Bactrian: To whom am I speaking, White Princess?

White Princess: Luis.

Bactrian: A man? Kind of an odd name for a man's ship, isn't it?

White Princess: Believe me, you're not the first one to tell me that.

Bactrian: Keep talking to me, Luis. Tell me how your ship got its name.

White Princess: It was called that when I got it. Believe it or not, I won it in a raffle at this rich girls' sorority graduation party.

Bactrian: It sounds like you had some interesting college years.

White Princess: That party really wasn't my normal scene. But this girl I was interested in convinced me to buy tickets with her, and we'd split the prize.

White Princess: What I didn't know, was that there were like 5 other guys she'd made the same deal with.

White Princess: When one of her other guys won 3rd prize, I figured out what was up pretty quick. Needless to say, they shared it only among the two of them.

White Princess: So when they announced 1st prize, I wasn't all that inclined to share.

White Princess: Does that make me a bad person?

Bactrian: Like hell it does. I'd have done the same thing.

White Princess: thanks person whose name i don't know that makes me feel better

Bactrian: You're starting to sound delirious. How are you feeling?

Bactrian: Luis?

  
  
**Thu May 12 4996, 12:14 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's internal logs**

The Pale Bride was churning in her gut. Hyun-ae pushed those feelings down. She didn't have time for hatred or despair. Her wife needed her.

Hyun-ae floated up to Mute and hugged her from behind.

Hyun-ae: You know this isn't your fault, right?

Mute was shaking.

Mute: If... if I'd been here...

Hyun-ae: No. No, Mute. If you'd been here, you wouldn't have been able to do anything. You didn't have a body then.

Hyun-ae: And if you were here, then you couldn't have been with me. I needed you too, Mute. I still do.

Mute didn't reply, but she closed her eyes and leaned back into the hug. Their tears floated away as droplets in the microgravity, shining in the light of the monitor. It was impossible to tell whose was whose.

They stayed like that until the battery finished charging, an hour later.

  
  
**Thu May 12 4996, 13:20 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's internal logs**

*Blazer: Are ya sure about this?

Hyun-ae had just told her that they wouldn't need her services anymore.

Hyun-ae: Yes. You've been a big help. Thank you. But the White Princess' engines run perfectly. And our next stop is only a couple of hours away. We'll be fine.

*Blazer: Okay. But it'll take me a bit of time to get back to Earth. If ya'll run into any trouble, just give a holler and I'll scamper on back.

Hyun-ae: Thank you.

She sent *Blazer a credit voucher for services rendered.

*Blazer turned away and accelerated, disappearing from view in slightly more than a second. She could have gone much faster if she'd wanted to.

Mute: So you're sure the White Princess is up for this?

Hyun-ae: Yes. And we couldn't have afforded to keep her around for much longer, anyway.

She set a course for the only logical place the Bactrian would have taken Luis: Janat Station.

  
  
**Thu May 12 4996, 15:31 SST**  
**Janat Station Dock A34 public terminal**

Halo, dan selamat datang di pusat pengambilan gambar Penyimpanan di Janat Station! Anda berinteraksi dengan LIFELINE.

Tolong nyatakan nama program kepribadian yang ingin Anda ambil kembali.1

>> Do you know English?

English language detected!

Reprinting welcome message...

Hello, and welcome to the Janat Station Deep Storage retrieval center! You are interacting with LIFELINE.

Please state the name or ID number of the personality program you wish to retrieve.

>> Luis Prieto

Searching...

271 personalities are in storage with that name.

Can you provide distinguishing characteristics to narrow the set down?

>> He arrived on Feb 21 4989 from Earth, he owns the ship White Princess, has a brother named Indalencio Prieto

Searching...

0 personalities are in storage with those parameters.

However, I have found a personality program that may be what you are looking for.

    Name: Luis (Full name unknown)  
    Date stored: Feb 22 4989  
    ID Number: None  
    Citizenship: Unknown  
    Family members: Unknown  
   Notable property: White Princess (small spacecraft)  
    Other Characteristics: Had interesting college years

Do you wish to retrieve this personality?

>> YES!

What server do you wish to transfer him to?

>> Dock A34, the White Princess

Awaiting permission from the White Princess...

Permission received!

Checking data integrity...

Integrity OK!

Transferring...

(Please allow up to three hours for transfer, depending on network load and other factors outside of our control. Thank you for your patience.)

Transfer complete!

Your service today has been provided by LIFELINE. Thank you for visiting the Janat Station Deep Storage retrieval center, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

  
  
**Thu May 12 4996, 16:48 SST**  
**White Princess local chat room**

*Luis: Wow... this feels weird.

Hyun-ae: Luis! Are you OK?

*Luis: Hyun-ae! Oh man, am I glad to see you!

*Luis: I think not having a body is going to take some getting used to.

Mute: We still have that drone you got us! It's in a closet back on Earth. You can use that!

*Luis: And Mute's here too! Thanks for coming for me!

Hyun-ae: Good idea, Mute. I guess that would be the logical next step in the full circle we've come.

*Luis: Heh, that's true. At least we skipped the dialogue wheels this time.

Mute: It took way too long to come get you. We're sorry.

*Luis: It didn't take... wait... 4996!?

Mute: Yeah, I know that feeling.

*Luis: But... it could be worse. You had to wait 622 years for me. 7 years is nothing!

Hyun-ae: You weren't even alive back then! But I appreciate that you're trying to make us feel better.

*Luis: You know, *Luis is a pretty silly name for an AI.

SERVER: *Luis HAS CHANGED THEIR NAME TO *Investigator

*Investigator: Did you figure out what killed me? I'm kinda curious about that, for some strange reason.

Hyun-ae: Here, I'll send you the logs of the last few days. That will be faster than explaining it all.

*Investigator: ...

*Investigator: Well, at least there's a bright side. Investigating their own murder is a thing all the coolest investigators do at least once.

Mute: I can't believe you're not taking this more seriously.

Hyun-ae: Also, I don't think you have that job anymore.

*Investigator: Oh.

Hyun-ae: Do you know how you ended up in Deep Storage?

*Investigator: I guess I'd already suffered serious brain damage by the time the Bactrian arrived. They said they didn't have much medical equipment, but apparently they had a mind uploader. I can't even guess why.

Hyun-ae: I've... read up a bit on how those work. They emulate the currently-existing neural connections. Even dead ones. But dead connections don't last for very long...

*Investigator: So... I guess they had to decide whether I was better off as a machine or a vegetable.

Hyun-ae: It can't have been an easy decision.

Mute: Well they definitely made the right one, okay?

*Investigator: Yeah. I agree.

Mute: But they would have released you to a hospital, right? Why didn't the hospital activate you?

*Investigator: That's a really good question. I don't know. Somebody was bribed, maybe. Or blackmailed.

Hyun-ae: This sounds really dangerous.

*Investigator: To be fair, I suspect they weren't trying to actually kill me. Just scare me away.

Hyun-ae: I can't believe you're defending them!

*Investigator: I'm not defending them! I'm just trying to figure out the truth. That's my job. Or it was, anyway.

*Investigator: They probably figured when that nitrogen tank exploded I would go over and check it out. Then when I started feeling woozy I'd realize there was a problem with the atmospherics, grab a breath mask, and be fine until help arrived. Warning received.

*Investigator: But due to bad luck, I was walking right by the tank when it blew up, and got hit by shrapnel. So when I got light-headed I assumed it was due to blood loss, and didn't take steps to prevent nitrogen asphyxiation.

Mute: Shouldn't there be an indicator to tell you when the air is dangerous?

*Investigator: Well, there's an atmospherics IMP. It would have warned me about that, except I had it off. It was kinda broken, and always insisted on keeping the temperature too cold...

Mute: Do I need to spell out for you how stupid that was?

*Investigator: Well, I know that now!

*Investigator: ...Wow, I never expected Mute to talk to me that way.

Mute: ...I was out of line. I'm sorry, *Investigator.

*Investigator: No! That was great! I want to be called out on my mistakes. I don't want to be put on a pedestal. I don't want to be treated any differently than you treat, say, Hyun-ae.

Mute: ...You want me to treat you EXACTLY like Hyun-ae?

*Investigator: Sure, why not? Wait...

*Investigator: I noticed in the logs you two were hugging for a while. Are you guys... um... an item?

Mute: NOPE THAT IS NOT A THING THAT EVER HAPPENS NOTHING TO SEE HERE

*Investigator: Hey, congratulations! I'm happy for you!

Mute: THAT'S NOT WHAT I SAID. THAT IS THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT I SAID.

Hyun-ae: She's still shy about other people finding out, but... it should be okay for you to know.

Mute: I wonder if it's possible for, like, my humiliation routines to overload and fry my motherboard. That would be nice.

Hyun-ae: He would have found out anyway as soon as he checked his email. I wrote all about that.

Hyun-ae: Actually... Luis, could you not read those emails? In hindsight, I said some really embarrassing things to you in some of them...

Mute: Read them! It would serve her right!

*Investigator: Um... so you have bodies now! That's great! What else did I miss?

Hyun-ae: I got a Master's degree in astromechanical engineering!

*Investigator: Wow, congrats! I'm proud of you!

Hyun-ae: I didn't tell you this before because I wanted it to be a surprise... but I was getting that engineering degree so I could be useful on your ship. You seem to have a lot of mechanical failures.

*Investigator: I wish I could deny that...

Hyun-ae: I wanted to be with you, but not as a burden. As an equal. I... I still do.

*Investigator: Hyun-ae...

*Investigator: I love you. I probably should have told you that before, but... I didn't want you to regret your decision. And now you had to wonder about it for 7 years! I'm sorry.

Hyun-ae: Oh! I'm so happy to hear you say that!

SERVER: WARNING: SAPPINESS LEVELS APPROACHING CRITICAL

Hyun-ae: ... I'm going to kill that server.

Mute: Funny, it's starting to grow on me.

Hyun-ae: So, how about it? Can we join your crew?

*Investigator: Actually, about that...

*Investigator: We're aboard the White Princess, right? And it's docked with Janat Station?

Mute: Yeah.

*Investigator: Technically, since the White Princess was unmanned for over 5 years, it was a derelict. And when you docked it, you salvaged it.

*Investigator: So legally, it's your ship now.

Hyun-ae: Wait! So we stole your ship!? We didn't mean to!

*Investigator: It's okay! It's probably really good that you did. I'm not sure it would be safe for me to run on Janat servers.

Hyun-ae: Come to think of it, maybe we should leave now. We got who we came for, and it might still be dangerous here.

Mute: Agreed.

*Investigator: But... but the investigation...

Hyun-ae: Let the police do it. We have evidence of a crime right on board.

*Investigator: Oh well. I guess you're the boss now.

Mute: ...This is making me really uncomfortable. A woman running the ship?

Hyun-ae: What about two women? You salvaged it too, you know.

Mute: Two captains!? How does that even work!?

Hyun-ae: I have no idea.

*Investigator: That sounds like a management decision. It's above my paygrade.

Hyun-ae: You know, you seem a lot more confident as an AI.

*Investigator: Maybe so. I think it's partly the faster speed of thought, and partly the fact that I, well, died. I've already seen the worst.

*Investigator: Plus you guys came for me! That's worth a confidence boost right there.

Mute: Careful with the mushy stuff, you'll provoke the server again.

SERVER: APPROPRIATE RESPECT LOGGED

Hyun-ae: I'm going to get you one of these days, server.

SERVER: QUAKING IN MY BOOTS NOT REMOTELY LOGGED

  
  
**Thu May 12 4996, 18:24 SST**  
**Hyun-ae's internal logs**

Hyun-ae didn't know what would happen next. She wasn't sure if they had enough savings to repair the White Princess. She wasn't sure if Mute had a job waiting for her back on Earth. And she wasn't sure if it was even safe to go back, since the original sabotage had probably happened there.

But, even so, she thought things felt... right. More right than she'd ever felt since she entered stasis. With both Mute and Luis by her side, life couldn't fail to get better.

She looked at the console. Luis (as she couldn't stop thinking of him) had printed on the screen: _So what's the verdict? Can I join your crew as head of investigative operations?_

He'd followed that with a big dialogue wheel. The choices were:

     _Yes_  
     _No_  
     _Obligatory jackass option_

Hyun-ae smiled, and made a decision. It was an easy one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1: The language is Indonesian, and it's almost certainly butchered horribly because I used Google Translate to write it. If any Indonesian speakers want to help un-butcher it, I'd really appreciate it.
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story! This was my first fanfic, and I'm sure it shows. I'd be very grateful for any comments, advice, and criticism.


End file.
